Ari Kestin is the CEO and founder of p2p delivery service, Nimber (formerly known as Easybring). The platform is a marketplace for matching delivery needs with spare capacity. In July 2014, it launched globally to open its market beyond Norway. It now has 22, 303 people on its platform from almost 70 countries.
What inspired you to start Nimber?
Initially a Norwegian postal truck accident was the catalyst. With so many packages spread all over the road, the thought was, what if every car could take one of those packages and deliver it to its destination. Our inspiration comes from utilising spare capacity to solve the challenge in delivering practically anything. We are inspired by the power of a community working together.
We developed Nimber to be a community based p2p delivery service. The sender posts a request for delivery and Nimber matches it with someone going that way, anyway. A service the utilises spare and existing capacity to create the most convenient cost effective delivery and green experience.
Easybring recently rebranded to Nimber and asked for names from the community, what were some of the other suggestions and why did you choose Nimber?
I had a few favourites, including Shiphappens, Hopp and Bringit. However, other limitations such as trademarking, availability of domains, and other considerations pointed us to Nimber. The name originally came from the word Nimble. We loved it from the get go.
Here’s a link to the suggested names.
photo from Nimber blog
Why did you see the need for a service like Nimber?
We wanted to create a better delivery service, a better experience and one that is social/collaborative in nature. We wanted a delivery option that was more green, less expensive more convenient all around. The initial target market was large bulky fragile/sensitive or even live deliveries. We believe we are solving an existing problem that everyone has.
Who currently uses Nimber and why? What are the top things being delivered through the service?
People use Nimber because it either is more convenient or less expensive and lastly yet mostly because they prefer it to existing solution. We also found that people love the collaborative nature of our service, where sender and bringer help each-other and in some cases get to know one another.
Nimber is integrated as preferred logistics partner for leading classifieds and net auction providers in Norway, so the most popular tasks are from people buying stuff online.People use Nimber to deliver everything from forgotten mobile chargers, furniture, animals, cars, boats and even fast food. We are continuously entertained by all the new creative use cases.
Here is a video showing one of the bringers picking up a cat
What are some of the challenges you have faced in bringing Nimber to life? How are you overcoming them?
Funding is always a challenge for startups, especially for those that are trying to create something complete new and revolutionary (of sorts). However, we have a very committed and supportive investor group. Operationally, the biggest challenge is in meeting the needs of the community whilst we build the platform and scale. We found that senders and bringers alike are very understanding that until we reach a certain size (with our model) the service will be less than perfect. However, they also understand that this service is really theirs. We love our community and we believe our community loves the service.
What do you envision for Nimber in the future?
The vision is that Nimber will be the answer to the question how do I send anything. We want to be the way people all over the world send and deliver. Today we may be tackling the large/bulky sensitive/fragile live deliveries, over long distances. Tomorrow, we hope to tend to everyday delivery needs, including city deliveries, and solutions for online shopping (small-Mid size e-tailers).
